Epigenetics Help Find Prognosis for Posterior Fossa Ependymomas
— Categories: Ependymoma Research Articles Posted on January 18, 2017
Ependymomas are brain or spinal tumors that can occur in people of all ages within the central nervous system. The prognosis of these tumors does not necessarily correlate with tumor grade and there are no genetic mutations that can be used to classify these tumors.
To address this problem, scientists examined the epigenetics (the changes in a chromosome that affect gene activity) of ependymoma. By doing this, the authors identified some patterns that correlate with prognosis, including one specific pattern that is associated with more invasive tumors.